Naruto on Blu-ray

[ajdulteee99]

I see the original series and 2nd one are on Blu-Ray in Germany, but cant find info on of the quality. anyone have any info ?

[Naiera]

German releases as good as NEVER have English subtitles.

[BlaizeV]

The German releases of Naruto S1 are SD-BD. Something I wish more companies would do as it eliminates the worry of bad in house upscales (something Viz have a knack for) and instead it should allow for the absolute best SD picture which is often better than an upscale anyway. Also SD-BD's are HUGE SPACE SAVERS which many collectors certainly see value in.

For example with Naruto instead of an upscale carried out across 9 sets or so we could instead have a fancy artbox with like two blu ray cases inside and a small artbook or something and it would contain the same amount of content.

I wish Viz did that with Bleach instead of the upscale they are doing.

[Jameron4eva]

Originally Posted by BlaizeV

The German releases of Naruto S1 are SD-BD. Something I wish more companies would do as it eliminates the worry of bad in house upscales (something Viz have a knack for) and instead it should allow for the absolute best SD picture which is often better than an upscale anyway. Also SD-BD's are HUGE SPACE SAVERS which many collectors certainly see value in.

For example with Naruto instead of an upscale carried out across 9 sets or so we could instead have a fancy artbox with like two blu ray cases inside and a small artbook or something and it would contain the same amount of content.

I wish Viz did that with Bleach instead of the upscale they are doing.

But is still SD

[BlaizeV]

Originally Posted by Jameron4eva

But is still SD

Yes but the show will always be SD unless they recomposite the series. Upscales can look good but they can also look really bad. In the case of a show like Naruto and it's length it would make more sense to forego an upscale and instead do an SD-BD release imo.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by Jameron4eva

But is still SD

True to source SD with lack of DVD compression is pretty awesome tho

[Wummyhulk]

Please make a Blu-Ray set of both shows happen in the USA.

[Jameron4eva]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

True to source SD with lack of DVD compression is pretty awesome tho

True, but nothing like having original film or artwork to go off of.

[Jameron4eva]

Originally Posted by BlaizeV

Yes but the show will always be SD unless they recomposite the series. Upscales can look good but they can also look really bad. In the case of a show like Naruto and it's length it would make more sense to forego an upscale and instead do an SD-BD release imo.

And there's the crux. Sadly they can't just go back and get the original art itself. Even in 4:3, that would be even better, but also probably require a "reshoot" since their either in a folder, or destroyed, idk how Japan keeps it's art for anime, hopefully not like how BBC kept the original recording for Doctor's 1& 2.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Originally Posted by BlaizeV

Yes but the show will always be SD unless they recomposite the series. Upscales can look good but they can also look really bad. In the case of a show like Naruto and it's length it would make more sense to forego an upscale and instead do an SD-BD release imo.

I think I'd rather have the shelf space than a ton of nicer box set releases honestly. I'm kind of past having big snazzy looking releases aside from steelbooks for the artwork.

By the time Bleach on Blu-ray is completed we're still gonna have like 15 box sets, right? Way too many.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

I think I'd rather have the shelf space than a ton of nicer box set releases honestly. I'm kind of past having big snazzy looking releases aside from steelbooks for the artwork.

By the time Bleach on Blu-ray is completed we're still gonna have like 15 box sets, right? Way too many.

I think Bleach is going to be 13 Sets at the rate it's going which is exactly half as many as the DVD version and not having those big Digi-Paks like Bleach had in the 1st few Sets before Viz did the re-release of those in standard DVD cases to match with the rest of the series.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by Jameron4eva

True, but nothing like having original film or artwork to go off of.

Naruto was done digitally, there's no film to speak of. Going back to the "original art" would be recompositing the original source. TBH if releasing it in its original resolution looks just as good as a recomposite I'm totally fine with that.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Jameron4eva

True, but nothing like having original film or artwork to go off of.

As previously mentioned, Naruto was done digitally. Anime switched to Digital animation around 1995- as that’s when films started to be digitally processed (like the original Ghost in the Shell). TV series made the switch around 1999 or 2000, with very few cel produced series afterwards- Maharomatic and Sazae-san were among the last to switch.

Here’s a video on this period that’s very informative:

https://youtu.be/-ZQ0EZp0dzk

So unless a lab upscaled the existing SD masters, or if Pierrot STILL has the original scanned douga (the original paper drawings that were then digitally coloured)- then they can recomposite it. Even a crappy Q-Tec Upscale would take forever, given how many episodes there are.

If anyone has any more questions about anime production, I’d be willing to answer.

[professorwho]

Sorry to bump up an old thread, but I found info on the supposed Naruto HD "remaster".

It's an upscale, as was to be expected. But, it's cropped to 16:9 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

At first glance, the cropping doesn't look too bad. But that's because it's a shot with little on screen, so you don't loose much. In more dynamic shots with better composition and cinematography, you see how it's a straight crop. Boom! 1/3 of the screen is gone. With 220 Episodes, to manually crop it to maximize each shot would take a while- the only show to have gained such a luxury was The Wire, but the series was shot on 35mm with widescreen in mind, so not much was lost nor gained.

It still probably looks better than the DVDs due to MPEG 2 compression, low bitrates, and Viz's incompetence, but is it optimal? Nope. Still, it's better than nothing, I guess...

[InuYashaCrusade]

Viz did crop some of the Bleach anime for both television airing and DVD release back in the day. The episodes beginning at 166 were supposed to be in 16:9 but were cropped to 4:3. This also happened around the switch between SD and HD in the Pokemon Diamond & Pearl era.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs....php?t=1181848

In all seriousness, I'd still buy Naruto if it were cropped. I'm at a point where I am 100% done with DVDs if I can avoid them.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

In all seriousness, I'd still buy Naruto if it were cropped. I'm at a point where I am 100% done with DVDs if I can avoid them.

Agreed. Though, if it were possible, SD BDs of the show would be a nice option for the older seasons.

[HunterKIller]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Sorry to bump up an old thread, but I found info on the supposed Naruto HD "remaster".

Where?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by HunterKIller

Where?

Here

[Snarfs]

So I'm totally ignorant when it comes to PQ in general, just because I hate stressing over stuff like that. So can someone explain something to me?

What is the point in changing the aspect ratio but then having to crop? Are there people who are would rather have something cropped than it just shown in it's original ratio?

Again, I'm a total noob so please explain slowly if I'm missing something fundamental. I've just always been scared to ask because I'd rather not have to go down a rabbit hole of understanding PQ.

Thanks in advance.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Snarfs

What is the point in changing the aspect ratio but then having to crop? Are there people who are would rather have something cropped than it just shown in it's original ratio?

Depending on the ratio, you might not even have to crop. 4:3 (the square) is a general term, and can be framed in multiple ways 1.33:1 or 1.34:1 or 1.37:1 and there really isn't much of a difference- it just gets wider the more you go.

Naruto was made in 4:3 or 1.33:1 which is the square. Widescreen has the same height but has a longer bottom. So, you could technically stretch it to fill the full screen, but all dimensions are lost. By cropping, you remove parts of the top and bottom to not look stretched, as if you're zooming in on a certain part. Image something on film- this was show in 4:3, and you want to do a widescreen presentation. You zoom in on the portion you want, roughly the middle portion- by having the scanner only do that part with it set to Widescreen, you are chopping off parts of the top and bottom.

The problem is that younger audiences don't like something old (although in this case, Naruto isn't that old), so 4:3 is off-putting. Plus, some people don't care about the creator's intent. They're entitled to their opinion, but it doesn't make for a correct presentation. To combat this, some studios will force the 4:3 image into a 16:9 one. For example, on the Star Trek Blu-rays, the video appears as 4:3 on your 1080p or 4K TV because it's supposed to, but this is where it gets fascinating. Normally, a 4:3 movie, say Citizen Kane will be encoded at a 1440x1080 resolution, thus native 4:3. Star Trek on the other hand is 1920x1080, so the pillars on the sides ofthe image are burnt in so you can't zoom in and ruin the picture.

I wouldn't have a problem with cropping if the original aspect ratio version was always available. Hell, Criterion's Blu-ray of On the Waterfront has 3 different versions all with a different aspect ratio, as nobody can agree what was the correct one.

To conclude- stuff made in 4:3 (unless meant to be cropped- which only applies to certain anime movies from the 80s) cannot be shown in 16:9 without cropping. And many younger people want to fill their TV completely, and probably aren't aware of the issues with distorting 4:3 content.